RUSSIA: In a major move of action, Wikipedia's owner has been slapped fine of 1.5 million roubles (USD 18,400) by a Russian court for failing to delete an article on the conflict in Ukraine, the TASS news agency said today, April 18.

Russia has hit the Wikimedia Foundation with a string of fines in recent months, but is "not yet" planning to block the service, the minister of digital affairs said earlier this week.
According to the official Tass news agency, the Wikimedia Foundation disregarded requests to delete articles that contained "false information" from the site by Roskomnadzor, Russia's national communications watchdog. According to Tass, a Wikipedia official sought the court to dismiss the removal request as being unspecific.

In recent years, President Vladimir Putin has intensified his crackdown on criticism and accurate reporting that don't line up with the opinions or versions of events held by his government. Since his soldiers invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the crackdown has grown in scope, concentrating particularly on information and dissent against what he refers to as Russia's "special military operation" in the neighbouring nation.

His government has also attempted, with varying degrees of success, to formally restrict the availability of Western news stories in Russia through Roskomnadzor. Although it has blocked some Voice of America and BBC websites, Russians can still access them through VPNs.

This is not the first time Wikipedia has been penalised for refusing to delete “false” information about the war in Ukraine. Last week, the same Moscow court issued a fine of 8,00,000 rubles (USD 9,785) to the Wikimedia Foundation for not removing materials linked to a song by a Russian rock band called Psychea, which Russian authorities consider to be extremist.

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